Luba Female figure

The favorite theme in Luba sculpture was the woman, since according to Luba myth, vilie was the first woman spirit, founder of the clan and guarantor of fertility and the lineage (Cornet 1972, cited in Art of Africa 1988:575). This figure holds her breasts, as giver of life and nurture, and also of the gifts that transcend the visible and join the spirits of natural world (Africa, The Art of a Continent 1999:294). This figure has typical Shankadi hair style, characterized by a tiered coiffure divided into three spreading planes (Bacquart 1998:156-7).